IMDb RATING
6.7/10
3.8K
YOUR RATING
Follow the rebellious girls of a Catholic boarding school before Christmas, a time of war and scarcity.Follow the rebellious girls of a Catholic boarding school before Christmas, a time of war and scarcity.Follow the rebellious girls of a Catholic boarding school before Christmas, a time of war and scarcity.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 3 wins & 3 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn a 2023 interview with Bitpix TV, Alice Rohrwacher explained the double-meaning of the title and the unique rehearsal process of the film: "Before we started filming, we cast these 17 young girls without knowing who would play the main character of Serafina, but they all had such expressive eyes, which was essential for the story. 'Pupil' means eyes, but, in Latin, it also means 'little girl', so they all had to embody that double meaning. This was during COVID, so once we had our acting troupe selected, we spent several weeks together rehearsing and letting all the girls try each role. They didn't necessarily know who the protagonist was, as they all had a chance to experience the story from many perspectives. We were also shooting on film so we didn't have the luxury of many digital takes, so teaching them the importance of conserving film and making the most of every scene was a wonderful way to learn about the industry and making a movie... It wasn't until they saw the film on the screen that they fully understood Serafina's journey."
- ConnectionsFeatured in 2023 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action (2023)
Featured review
The best Christmas story.
Summary
An adorable Christmas story, never sappy or sentimental, where the Dickensian meets the ineffably Italian. A medium-length film in which Alice Rohrwacher admirably combines humor, irony, tenderness, musicals, pictorials, and comics to once again deal with power, religion, and micropolitics.
Review
The story takes place in a Catholic religious boarding school for girls during Christmas Eve and Christmas. We are in Italy, during World War II.
Based on a letter that the Italian writer Elsa Morante wrote to a friend, Le pupille is a wonderful Christmas story. The director Alice Rohrwacher, in less than 40 minutes, offers us a sensitive, humorous and deep story about that boarding school, with a relentless mother superior (Alba Rohrwacher, most just) and the preparations for her living nativity scene so that the convent raises funds in that such a difficult time.
One of the offerings that one of the aristocrats of the place will make (a devastated and funny Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) will generate an unexpected conflict in the convent. It is in this conflict where Rohrwacher ends up introducing his usual and acute (never obvious or pamphleteering) treatment of power, religion and micropolitics. The economy of resources and the originality with which the filmmaker expresses the conflicts and accumulated tension is remarkable, and she does it purely on film, combining the pictorial, humor, irony, musicals, and comics. As light as intense.
The film is adorable (like its childish cast), but never sappy, combining the Dickensian, the ineffably Italian and that fair tone suitable for all audiences but not childish, in line with the best and most classic exponents of the Disney universe.
An adorable Christmas story, never sappy or sentimental, where the Dickensian meets the ineffably Italian. A medium-length film in which Alice Rohrwacher admirably combines humor, irony, tenderness, musicals, pictorials, and comics to once again deal with power, religion, and micropolitics.
Review
The story takes place in a Catholic religious boarding school for girls during Christmas Eve and Christmas. We are in Italy, during World War II.
Based on a letter that the Italian writer Elsa Morante wrote to a friend, Le pupille is a wonderful Christmas story. The director Alice Rohrwacher, in less than 40 minutes, offers us a sensitive, humorous and deep story about that boarding school, with a relentless mother superior (Alba Rohrwacher, most just) and the preparations for her living nativity scene so that the convent raises funds in that such a difficult time.
One of the offerings that one of the aristocrats of the place will make (a devastated and funny Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) will generate an unexpected conflict in the convent. It is in this conflict where Rohrwacher ends up introducing his usual and acute (never obvious or pamphleteering) treatment of power, religion and micropolitics. The economy of resources and the originality with which the filmmaker expresses the conflicts and accumulated tension is remarkable, and she does it purely on film, combining the pictorial, humor, irony, musicals, and comics. As light as intense.
The film is adorable (like its childish cast), but never sappy, combining the Dickensian, the ineffably Italian and that fair tone suitable for all audiences but not childish, in line with the best and most classic exponents of the Disney universe.
helpful•1811
- danybur
- Dec 16, 2022
Details
- Runtime39 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Dolby Atmos(original version)
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
![Le pupille (2022)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTAwMjI4YWEtZGEwZS00M2Y1LThkYjctOTA5YzAxMWM4M2E3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI1NDEyNTM5._V1_QL75_UY133_CR8,0,90,133_.jpg)